


The Air of Arcadia

by tjs_whatnot



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1472791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjs_whatnot/pseuds/tjs_whatnot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many filled pages in their little blue book. This is the story of one...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Air of Arcadia

“Hello, Sweetie,” River said as she sauntered into the TARDIS. 

“You’re late,” the Doctor said, not looking up from the book he was reading, trying hard not to look as if he had been waiting. Finally he looked up and added, “And highly under dressed.”

“You don’t like?” she asked, twirling around in her toga. 

He pulled on his black satin bow-tie. “I thought we were going to the opera.”

“Boring.”

“So where?”

She walked over to the console and began fiddling with the controls. “Arcadia. Ever been?”

“Not that I remember. What makes it less boring than people rhythmically shouting at each other?”

“Believe me, you’d remember. But, if it would make you feel better, I’ll shout at you dramatically.”

He smiled. “That will make me feel slightly better. I’ll just go and change, shall I?”

“Excellent.”

A few moments later he returned wearing a replica of what she was. “This looks much better on you.”

“Most things do, love.”

He chose to ignore that and walked to the door.

“The parental units all tucked in for the night then?” River asked, following him, but looking over her shoulder at the staircase. 

“Finally. Rory performed his last patrol of the night right before you arrived. He’ll be settled in now.”

“His what?”

“Every night. He patrols the halls, checks the doors, the crawl spaces, every inch of the ship… or the inches he can find. He does this all while sleeping. Has no idea that he does it, but he does, every single night.”

“Really?” 

“Truly. You know what they say: You can take the Last Centurion out of Rome, but…”

River smiled as she reached the door. “They really are the most adorable people.”

The Doctor followed her out of the opened door. “Yes. They really are.”

***

They stood next to each other, spellbound for different reasons. River hadn’t been to Arcadia since it was an overgrown and barely inhabitable land mass. A million years ago, give or take a decade, she had stood there before and dreamed of this day. 

For the Doctor, it was the air of Arcadia working it’s way into his lungs, filling his hearts with a feeling he hardly felt elsewhere. It was exhilarating, terrifying and could not be contained. 

“Come along, Song,” he said, taking her hand and running along the rocky terrain. 

She laughed and clutched his hand tighter, trusting him to take the right path and safely get them where he was desperate to go. “So you _have_ been to Arcadia before?” she shouted over the sound of the rushing waterfalls crash in the near distance.

He stopped short and turned just in time to catch her in his arms. He held her tight for a moment, breathing her in with the air, the misty spray of the thundering water spritzing their faces. Then he took another breath, let her go before bopping her on the nose and answering, “You know what they call the air of Arcadia?”

She smirked. “The Aphrodisiac of The Time Lord.”

“Yes, that. So, you think you’re the first person who has brought me here to test it out? See if the legends are true?”

Her smirk widened. “Oh, I know they’re true.”

He studied her for a moment before his tongue sneaked out of his mouth and tasting the mist and the particles of the air on its buds, his hearts once again raced with that hunger. This time when he ran, River followed him without needing to be guided.

He snaked his way towards the Falls and then around them, climbing effortlessly from one slippery precipice to the next, only occasionally looking back and never surprised that River trailed without pause.

They made their way about half way up the backside of the Falls before they came to the cave that they both knew was there, waiting for them. They staggered in, both breathing hard. It didn’t stop them from falling into each other’s arms though.

“I know,” The Doctor began in between gulps of air, “it is usually proper to chat each other up a bit before--”

“Shut up and kiss me,” River ordered.

Doctor did as he was told, and continued to do as he was told for a very long time after.

***

Much later, their togas wrapping them tightly together, and the Doctor couldn’t stop smiling into the curls on the top of River’s head. He didn’t want her to see just how content he currently was, she was smug enough already.

“So, you weren’t kidding about that being a screamer thing, were you?” he whispered.

He couldn’t see her blush, but he felt the temperature rise on her cheeks and knew it was there. This warmed him as well. That he could make her blush after it all. 

“Sorry about that. The walls did shake just a bit, didn’t they?”

“No worries, they are stable still.”

“Yes. Whoever built these caves did their work well.”

There was something in her voice that caught the Doctor but he ignored it for now, and instead asked, “So, how many TIme Lords have you lured into these caves?”

“Just the one, you? How many lovely ladies and lads have seduced you here.”

He pulled back to look at her. “Just the one? Have we been here before?”

“No.”

“But… I don’t understand.”

“I will explain it, but first answer my question.”

“How many? A few. Surely you’re not jealous. There is quite an age difference between the two of us, you understand…”

“Very much so. I don’t have a jealous bone in my body. Well, that’s not true. I am jealous of only one.”

“Yes?”

“My mother.”

“Amy?” the Doctor choked out, trying not to laugh.

“No. The TARDIS. She has loved you longer and better than I ever could. As I see it, she is my only competition.”

“Ah, don’t be that way, love,” Doctor said kissing River’s temple. “It is true me and the TARDIS are inseparable, but we have made an agreement about you long ago.”

She smiled and tucked her head back under his glorious chin. “How kind of the two of you.”

“We can’t help it; we’re fond.”

She sighed deeply but didn’t say anything. After a pause, the Doctor asked, “So, you said you’d explain. When did you come here before? If not with me and not with anyone else, how do you know…ahhhh.”

She chuckled. “Sorted it did you?”

“Yes, Doctor Song. I did.”

“Being an archeologist has its uses. Being a Time Traveling archeologist has its many, many advantages. One of them being, I can be there when planets are discovered, I can be there when every particle of an atmosphere is generated and transposed. I can, essentially be there to create our very own oasis.”

He ran his fingers through her tangles while smiling into her eyes. “Oh, but you are a naughty girl.”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. She smiled against him and wrapped her arms tighter around him. “A naughty girl who got easily bored.”

This time the kiss was longer, stronger and by the end of it, they once again had their legs tangled together. 

“Not anymore, my love. Not anymore,” the Doctor whispered as he once again surrendered to the ambrosia that was the air of Arcadia.


End file.
